Its a quiet time away from the coast where bird migration is in full swing. Around us, we are seeing plenty of butterflies enjoying the sunshine and warmth, notably Painted Lady and the locally uncommon Commas. The dry weather has one obvious benefit in that the remaining water attracts wildlife more than ever. The pool in front of my hide is attracting more bird bathers than any previous year but I needed a bigger pool for today's photo. I noticed a wet flush where Swallows were drinking so I waited and over a ten minute period I only took one burst of two pictures. As you can see, Swallows are able to drink on the wing such is their flying skill.

Its high summer now. Birds are difficult to find since they are often with young or active only very early and late in the day. It is, however, high season for mammal and bug watching. Today we found ten species of butterfly with a few dragonflies thrown in for good measure. Since we are in a heatwave they are relatively easy to find but a challenge to get close.

With mammal watching you either have to get up incredibly early or stay out until dusk. Earlier in this week I was able to stay out until some Foxes came out to play. In all I saw five foxes but had to be content with fewer in any one picture. In my part of the world there are no easy Fox pictures so this was a thrill. I'm sure I've seen many more dead ones than live ones.

Last week we spent the whole week on the Isle of May in the Forth. Like other places we visit on our travels it felt a real privilege to be there as part of a fairly exclusive club.It was the height of the bird breeding season. Oystercatchers were widespread, piping away, protecting their young from the marauding gulls, however the Terns were causing anxiety since they were late to arrive and even later to settle down. The stars of the show for us were the auks, and in particular, the clowns of the sea - the Puffins. From the start of the week they began hatching their eggs. We know this by the fact that they carried sand eels increasingly as the week wore on. Being resident meant being able to use the whole of the day for photography which was a hoped-for bonus once the sea haar dispersed.

Just back from a week spent on the Isle of May, staying at the Bird Observatory. August can be a special time to be on the island however the hoped-for fall of migrants did not happen. The nagging west/south west wind put paid to that. Out of the wind we enjoyed the long spells of sunshine. That said, there was plenty to enjoy from the still breeding Fulmars, the burgeoning Rabbit population, and the building numbers of seals preparing to pup and then start the next generation.​Some small birds were passing through. As expected, the most numerous species was Willow Warbler with youngsters dominating the count. Here is one making that extraordinary journey to Africa for the first time.

It has been a while since we visited the East coast. The reason for this is that for the best part of the last six weeks the wind has been from the East. The result is that when the weather has not been poor light, a very cold wind has persisted. Today we visited and were not disappointed; that said it was slightly chilly.We had hoped to encounter some Auks and Terns which would be firsts for the year. In the event, we only saw distant flocks of Razorbill, with the odd Guillemot mixed in. With the terns we did better. A few Sandwich Terns flew calling my name (Some wag in the past suggested they say Errric!). However, the day was made by one Arctic Tern.I shuffled up to a reasonable distance taking pictures. It was clearly at ease since it was frequently wing stretch horizontally. Once it did the vertical stretch and I was hooked. It took a further half an hour before I got the picture (opposite). You need to leave a lot of picture space for those wings.Recent storms had deposited a huge amount of kelp on the beach so it was no surprise to find waders enjoying the feast of sandhoppers and other goodies. Particularly noted was a flock of Turnstone in various states of plumage enjoying the banquet.

Spring is really here although, as soon as that is said, there's usually a sting in the tail. However it is fairly warm and sunny for the time being.

Many wintering birds are feeding up ready for migration. Waders, at the coast and estuaries are frantically feeding before making a journey - some short, some long. Amongst them are Black-tailed Godwits (picture). Some of them develop their breeding finery before they set off. Its always been an aim of mine to properly catch one in that stage. Finally, with the big tides of last week I managed. The supporting cast included Curlew, Redshank, Knot and the diminutive Dunlin.

At last a day that looked dry and a bit brighter, so we headed east into Fife. The rain was still falling as we crossed the Tay, so, instead of Tentsmuir, we headed to St. Andrews where along the way it did indeed dry up. As we drove past a field we spotted a large flock of swans - both Mute and Whoopers, so quickly found a parking spot and walked over to the flock. They were busy feeding so didn't pay us much attention, but did walk away from us a bit. Lovely to see adults and a decent crop of this year's youngsters.

​Reaching the coast we enjoyed Stonechats and a Grey Partridge on the Golf Course as well as Fulmars and Scoters.

A bright sunny morning, so the coast was the place to visit. The Eiders are looking very smart now with their fine feathers now coming in and the waders are now in their winter coats. There were Redshanks running around, Oystercatchers , busy Turnstones and scuttling Sanderlings as this photo shows.Out at sea were mainly gulls and Eiders, but we spotted a Red Throated Diver and some Velvet Scoters which were a thrill for a winter day.

Lots of sea-birds around just now. A pelagic last week to the Bell Rock Lighthouse gave the local bird club members close views of Little Gulls, Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills, a few Shearwaters and even Porpoises. Then yesterday a coastal visit with lovely warm sunshine had us enjoying more Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes with the added bonus of Sandwich Terns, Eiders, Shags, Cormorants, a Whimbrel and a Bonxie. The beach had a wee flock of nicely plumaged Dunlin and Sanderling as well as a very confiding Knot (pictured) intent on feeding along the shore line irrespective of the photographer! As a wader fan it doesn't get better.

We recently took part in our annual trip to the Isle of May with our local bird club on Sunday. The weather forecast was not good with rain, wind and cold predicted - none of which you want for a boat trip! As it turned out, it was dry as the boat left the harbour, but the sea was rough for our crossing, so we were all very glad to step ashore. We were greeted by sunshine and hundreds of Arctic Terns which were settling down to nest near the harbour.

Having been quite a few times before we didn't explore much of the island this time, deciding instead to concentrate on the Puffins, which were flying in and out with fish, and the Terns who seemed to be using the passers by as target practice. All too soon it was time to leave for a much calmer crossing back to the mainland.

Author

Eric & Lesley McCabePerth, Scotland.Having both worked in the computer industry for a number of years we now have time to devote to our passion, namely wildlife photography. We like all subjects but usually concentrate on birds throughout the year, buttterflies and Dragonflies in the warmer months and moths sporadically.